Temporary protections extended for some immigrants as lawsuit continues

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Article | February 28, 2019 | Nicole Acevedo | NBC News

The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that temporary protections for immigrants originally from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan will continue to next year.

The department took the action Thursday to continue complying with a temporary court order in an ongoing lawsuit filed to stop the Trump administration from both terminating protections from deportation and work permits for immigrants from the countries that were granted Temporary Protected Status.

TPS grants temporary legal status to immigrants from certain countries fleeing natural disasters and civil wars. For almost 20 years, previous administrations from both parties have renewed the TPS status of tens of thousands of people, But the Trump administration said it would be ending the program for a majority of recipients.

The department said in a notice it filed in the Federal Register that TPS will continue for beneficiaries from the countries through Jan. 2, 2020.

“There is no need to pay a fee or file any application; the extension is automatic,” Jessica Karp Bansal, co-legal director at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said in a press release.

Plaintiffs in the Ramos v. Nielsen lawsuit, filed in March 2018, won a preliminary injunction requiring the Trump administration to extend TPS holders’ protections and work authorizations while the case is ongoing.

“Similar extensions will be announced every nine months as long as the Ramos appeal continues,” Karp Bansal, who is also a counsel for the plaintiffs in the Ramos case, said.